The Ten Best Moments from ‘Battle of the Bastards’

No matter how you’ve been feeling about Game of Throne’s sixth season, no one can deny the gravity of just how awesome it’s ninth episode was. One could argue that it was not only the best episode of the show so far, but also one of the best things ever to be aired on our television screens or to be streamed (naughty naughty) ever!

But sadly, as always, when one episode airs and ends, all of us Thronies are left with a black hole inside them, waiting for the next episode – but this time, there’s a difference. This time, there’s only one left.

So before all this build up comes to its conclusion, and because the ‘Battle of the Bastards’ was such a beautifully composed episode, I feel its only fitting that we take some time ot reflect on it’s greatness; specifically, its ten best moments.

10. The Dothraki War Cry

I can’t really pin point why, but ever since the days of Drogo in season 1, I’ve been pining to see the Dothraki in action, and when I mean action, I mean on the field. Yes, we’ve seen them pillaging, raping and all together being general shits, but we never got to see their infamous battle style – a style which is feared all throughout the world. However, here comes episode 9, with a brief check in with the Sons of the Harpy slaughtering citizens who appeared to be fleeing the city only to interrupted, and as we can gather, allegedly destroyed by Khallesi’s horde. The awesome moment comes when we hear a faint echo of a war cry, to which the SOTH stop their massacre and turn around, only to be greeted by the sight and sound of a horde of Dothraki screamers. Suffice to say, it doesn’t end well.

9. Jon Umber’s entry into the battle

I’ll admit, the main disappointment came with this episode when it turned out that the Umbers (the house that are probably the most loyal) were in fact turn cloak shitheads and weren’t planning some coup d’ tat with Ramsay. But hey, you get what your given and in all honesty, while I was disappointed, Small Jon Umber was still a joy to watch. The shot of him grasping his sword as he called ‘WHO OWNS THE NORTH’ was something from the likes of Braveheart, or some cut-scene from a video game. Unfortunately, we only briefly saw him fight before Tormund went full Mike Tyson on him, but his presence was a strong one; in fact, it’s a real shame they didn’t follow through with the North Remembers plot, as it would have meant we got to see him more.

8. Tormund offers Davos a drink

This one is a very specific and obscure awesome moment, and I will understand if I’m the only one that was ever curious about this, but do you remember at the end of season 4 when Jon entered Mance Rayder’s tent and Mance offered him a ‘proper northern drink’? Well, for some reason, I always wondered what this thick, cloudy drink was – it looked like milk, but I was never sure; well now we know it was fermented goat’s milk. I must admit though, I don’t understand how anyone would ever want to drink that. One mystery ends, and another is created.

7. Sansa tells Ramsay to ‘GTFO’

It seems whatever scene Ramsay is in, it’s very clear he seems himself as the smartest man there, even when he was getting his bum smacked by Roose, it was easy to tell that Ramsay always thought he was right, and most certainly thought he was the best. That’s why when Sansa, without saying a word to him during the scene, she completely cuts Ramsay off from one of his arrogant, smirk filled pieces of dialogue with a simple ultimatum: ‘You’re going to die tomorrow Lord Bolton. Sleep well.’

Yeah what’s up now Ramsay…BITCH!

6. Lyanna Mormont’s resting bitch face

With only one scene, Lyanna Mormont showed just how amazing a child can be in the GOT world. She basically knocked both Jon and Sansa down a peg when they gave her false courtesy, but also spoke with wisdom and reason when it came to supporting them. One thing was clear however, this girl aint takin’ shit from nobody! If you ever needed a more clear image of just how many fucks she gives, all you need is the face she gives Ramsay as he threatens them. She is having none of it.

The face that launched 62 great men.

5. The Bolton formation

We rarely get to see a battle in Game of Thrones; we’ve seen the Battle of the Blackwater and the Battle for the Wall sure, but we’ve never really seen a battle in an open field. Blackwater was a siege, and the Wall was a bit of both, but neither one had that space to really go into the tactics of an engagement. But when it came to this battle, we got to see formations, troop sequences and reinforcements, and the probably the best out of these was the Bolton shield formation. Seeing such a perfect formation of troops, combined with the shields themselves ( I actually quite like their sigil) and the call of ‘ADVANCE!’ every few seconds was really awesome to watch!

I must admit this one made the list because I love the Total War games too much.

4. The fleet burns

I’m not going to lie, I’ve never really been a fan of the Dany scenes – I don’t really have a specific reason for each scene, but my main problem is the fact that she seems to just be handed her advantages, and there isn’t much tragedy or plight to her as a character. However, my faith has been restored with the Dragon scenes from episode 9. Yes, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a dragon in full action, we got to see Drogon go full flamethrower in season 5’s penultimate episode, but here, we got all three! Yep, we got to see Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion in full action, breaking the fleet and army of the masters, and therefore lifting the siege altogether.

3. The Knights of the Vale pull a Rohirrim

I think this moment might be at the number one spot on a number of lists, and while I know I’ve put it at number three, this was just incredible. We’d reached the point in the battle where we thought it was all over for Jon and his men but low and behold, here comes the reputed knights of the vale to ride in and show these Bolton pricks the real deal. What made this moment extra special is the fact that, like the Dothraki, we’ve been hearing about how skillful in battle the knights of the vale are and now we can finally see why! I must admit though, the reason this makes it to number three, was how predictable it was, I mean, whoever didn’t see it coming really needs to check themselves because it was incredibly obvious. Never the less, an awesome moment!

2. The death of Wun-Wun

Of course, I see this moment as a tragedy rather than an awesome moment, yet like Hodor, the death of Wun-Wun was awesome because of the level of sacrifice around it. It might have been that winning the battle could’ve been for naught as there was no equipment for a siege – yet having a giant on your side means that there isn’t a need for a siege as he can just break and tear the door down with his bare hands while being pelted with arrows and crossbow bolts beyond count. Breaking through the door and then falling to his knees in pain was a tragic moment, but his refusal to go down easily and his last cry of pain sent a chill down my spine. The best of all this was the fact that Wun-Wun probably knew the outcome but he gladly sacrificed his life because he believed in Jon Snow.

And the greatest moment from ‘The Battle of the Bastards’?

Ramsay gets rekt

We were all waiting for the death of Ramsay, and while his death was fitting in all the right ways considering just how horrible this guy was, it was Jon’s beat down of Ramsay that I loved more. There are many reasons for this: one being the fact that it gave us the best Jon Snow moment since he beheaded Janos Slynt as when Ramsay suggests one on one combat, Jon drops his sword and picks up a shield and simple walks toward Ramsey until he’s close enough to bring him down with his bare hands. I mean, that is the kind of awesome story we hear about a character from history, one who simply put their safety aside and go for it.The other reason was the shield itself, because it belonged to House Mormont, you know, the only house that we saw declare for Jon and Sansa, so I think that the slice of awesome was cut a little thicker with that touch. We may not have seen Lyanna fight or anything, but she might as well have been the thing taking arrows with little effect.

Here We Stand.

Now, of course, with that out of the way, we’re all eagerly awaiting the finale episode of this series, and as the director has said, episode 10 is going to be just as awesome as episode 9, but in a very different way. Best get hyped then eh!

One thought on “The Ten Best Moments from ‘Battle of the Bastards’”

I thought Ramsay would’ve put up more of a fight if I’m honest. We’ve seen he’s a pretty decent fighter right? But man, when Jon was making it rain punches in his face, I was smiling from ear to ear aha